Q. I recently paid $10 each for my wife and I to do the early boarding on Southwest. However when we tried to take two seats together, another passenger was apparently holding 5 seats for his friends (guess he didn’t think the other friends should have to pay the $10 fee). What should I have done to avoid causing an uproar that would have gotten us kicked off the plane (assuming I was willing to endure the glares and comments of him and his friends during the flight)?

A. Was it Snagglepuss who used to opine, “That’s the most unhoid of thing I’ve ever hoid of?” (Correct me if I’m wrong). Anyway, this is pretty outrageous. You should have contacted a flight attendant immediately and had this jerk put in his place (maybe off the plane would have been a good place, where you wouldn’t have had to endure his “glares”). I’ve heard of this thing happening on cruise lines (people saving deck shares) and around resort pools, but never on a plane. Carnival Cruise Lines has begun cracking down on this practice, by placing stickers with the current time on chairs that been “claimed” by passengers with books, towels, etc. After 40 minutes, if the chaise is unoccupied, staff remove the items and leave a note where to claim them.